


We're here tonight and that's enough

by JuliaBaggins



Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, First Kiss, Flashbacks, Fluff, Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-07 18:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5465972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaBaggins/pseuds/JuliaBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three Christmases in the lifes of Chandler & Kent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Rainy Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Miba](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miba/gifts).



> The first chapter of this work is an extended version of two One-Shots I published in my Christmas-Collection "Silent Night"; the other two chapters will be completely new stories.
> 
> Thanks to Miba for encouraging me to write more about Chandler's & Kent's Christmases! ♡

It was the 24th of December and it was raining from deep grey clouds that covered all of the sky above London. Two men were walking in the rain, a tall blond one and a smaller one whose wet dark curls were hanging into his face. The blond man started talking first...

 

“I’m really sorry that I had to call you today, Kent; I guess it’s not nice to work at Christmas.“

Chandler looked at Kent with pity in his eyes while they walked down an empty street – it wasn’t a surprise that there weren’t any people to be seen as it was not only raining heavily but also Christmas Eve. 

Kent shook his head. “Don’t worry, Sir, work’s important and well, I had no real plans so…”

He fell silent and looked off into the distance. Actually, he had been quite happy when he had gotten the phone call telling him that a body had been found and he was one of the few members of Whitechapel’s police that hadn’t left the city for the holidays. It would be nice to have something to do that didn’t contain sitting alone in his flat and staring at the walls. His flat mates were gone as well as his colleagues, everybody visiting family members in other parts of the country. And his sister, well, Erica was celebrating with Mansell on a short holiday in Italy and he didn’t want to think about that.

Kent had prepared for a sad Christmas alone with himself, full of thoughts of how lonely he actually felt, so work was a good distraction.

Chandler, who was walking at his side, shifted his dark coat closer around himself and Kent hurried to look away before the DI could see him staring. Working at Christmas wasn’t Kent’s problem, but working together with the person he would have loved to spend Christmas with above anyone else felt rather… _strange._ He tried to tell himself that he should enjoy it, as this was the closest he’d ever get to a Christmas spent with Joseph Chandler. Kent was not stupid, he thought about how much out of his league his boss was every day, but still… He couldn’t help it. And he cursed himself for it as his crush had barely brought him anything good during the past few years...

 

They got to the crime scene, talked to a policeman whose breath smelled like he had already celebrated quite a lot and questioned two witnesses. It didn’t take long to find out that one of them wasn’t just a witness, but the murderer – he was the victim’s brother and when the woman next to him began to scream “He did it, he _did_ it, arrest him!” he didn’t even deny it. The whole thing barely took an hour and when the man had been brought to a prison cell, Chandler looked at Kent again. He seemed rather uncomfortable in his own skin.

“Kent, _Emerson_ , I’m really sorry; I wouldn’t have called you if I had known that this was… well, not even a real case, just a fight between two brothers that escalated. I didn’t want to ruin Christmas for you.”

Kent had been really surprised at Chandler using his first name, which he usually never did, and he was surprised even more when he heard what his boss had to say.

“Sir, it’s fine, really.”

Chandler still looked worried so Kent decided to tell him the truth, the whole sad truth.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to celebrate with; my flat mates are all visiting their families, my sister is celebrating with her _boyfriend_ and I probably would have spent the whole evening alone and cr… well, sad in my flat if you hadn’t called.”

Now Chandler looked at the younger man with surprise written on his face. “Oh.” was all he said.

 

The silence between them was something that Kent didn’t like so he decided to break it by asking: “And you Sir, have you had any plans for Christmas?”

“No. It’s not like… Let’s just say that you would not have been the only one to sit alone in your flat at Christmas.”

A sad look appeared in Chandler’s eyes and it was one of the things Kent hated, seeing the man he adored so sad, so he decided to do a thing he wouldn’t have been brave enough to do in nearly any other situation. But here, in an empty street on a rainy Christmas eve, he took a deep breath and did it.

“Sir, would you, would you like to spend Christmas with me?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, wondering _what the hell_ he had been doing, and so he started babbling an apology.

“I’m so sorry, Sir, that was inappropriate, I just…”

“Yes.”

“… thought that… What?”

Kent couldn’t believe his ears. Or his eyes, which showed him a Chandler whose eyes didn’t look so sad anymore and who even had something like a small shy smile on his lips.

“I said yes. I’d love to spend Christmas with you.”

Kent couldn’t breathe. He felt his cheeks heat and Chandler’s smile as he noticed that looked brighter than the sun to Kent. This smile gave Kent the feeling that his heart would jump out of his chest soon as it was beating so fast.

“I haven’t really got a Christmas tree or anything like that, but if you’d like to join me to my flat I could make us some nice tea and something to eat..?”

 

Kent looked around. He still couldn’t believe where he was – Chandler’s flat, as organized at he would have imagined it, with himself sitting in a comfy armchair, a hot cup of tea in his hands. He turned his head to look at Chandler who was busy in the kitchen, smiling to himself.

Kent just _couldn’t_ believe it. This was his own private Christmas miracle. And he loved it...

 

After they had dinner, Chandler and Kent were spending a calm Christmas evening together. They were sitting in Chandler’s living room on a white leather sofa, side by side, but still with a little gap between them – Kent was careful not to touch Chandler as he didn’t want to ruin anything; he loved the situation the way it was. It was Christmas and though just a few hours ago, he had expected to spend it sad and alone, here he was, watching a silly Christmas movie together with _Joe Chandler_ , after he had even _cooked_ for him. Wow.

Kent was busy thinking about how happy he was so he didn’t realize that the movie had ended, not until the credits began to flash over the screen of Joe’s TV. He turned the volume down as the song that had started playing was quite annoying and shifted a bit to be able to look at Kent.

“Kent, it was a lovely evening, and as it is rather late now…”

Kent jumped up from the sofa.

“I’m so sorry, I’ll leave right now. Didn’t want to bother you. Sir.”

Chandler looked really confused now, especially as Kent started heading for the living room’s door. He got up as well, following the young DC.

“Emerson?”

Kent turned around; he had already grabbed his jacket from the wardrobe and there was a sad look in his eyes. Chandler carefully touched his shoulders and felt how Kent’s whole body tensed up.

 

“Kent, I mean Emerson, did I say something wrong?”

“What?”

“Well, I thought we were having a really nice time, but now you seem to be in a hurry to leave and I wondered why…”

“But you told me to!” Kent interrupted; cheeks heated.

“I didn’t.”

“Sir, but you… _you_ told me it was late, so I thought this was just a polite way of telling me to leave.”

Chandler shook his head and a small smile appeared on his earlier worried face.

“It wasn’t.”

Kent looked at him in question and waited for a further explanation, which took Chandler a moment of twisting the buttons on his shirt.

“When I said that it was late… Actually, my intention was to ask you if you would like to stay.”

Kent’s heart stopped. His eyes went wide, his mouth formed a perfect ‘O’ and Chandler began to worry.

“Emerson, are you alright?”

“ _Alright? You_ just asked me if I would like to stay! Like _overnight_?”

Kent’s voice was loud and excited and the look on his face told Chandler how he hadn’t been wrong to assume that Kent indeed would like to stay. Well, not like that would be a surprise – not after all the wishful looks from the DC as well as the not so subtle hints from Miles, Meg, Mansell, _everyone._

Chandler nodded and asked: “So do you want to?”

Kent's answer was a whispered “Yes.”

 

Chandler took another step towards Kent. They were only inches apart now. And finally, Kent took a deep breath, closed the last space left between him and his boss and pressed his lips on Chandler’s. It was a soft, sweet kiss and Kent felt like he was walking on clouds. He thought of how all of his dreams had come true before he lost himself in the touch of Joe’s lips, the look of devotion in his eyes, the soft grip on his back as the DI wrapped his arms around him…

 

It was the 24th of December and it was still raining from grey clouds that covered all of the dark sky above London. Two men were kissing each other inside an expensive flat, a tall blond one and a smaller one whose dark curls were ruffled by gentle hands. The blond man took the other’s hand and carefully led him to the bedroom...


	2. A Frosty Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erica and her family are visiting Joe & Emerson for Christmas...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place a few years after the first chapter & contains some flashbacks ;)

It was the 25th of December and it was one of the coldest winters England had ever seen. Though it hadn’t snowed; there was just frost covering the flowers as well as the windows of the small house. Inside of that house, which was heated by a crackling fire in the chimney, a man with dark curls in a red Christmas jumper stood in the living room. 

The man silently watched his husband, who was preparing a duck as a Christmas meal in the kitchen. It was one of the many things he loved about the house, being able to see the kitchen from the living room, so he could steal a look at his husband now and then while he sat plates, glasses, knives and forks down at the table. He smiled at himself before he continued getting the table ready; everything in perfect order, the way his husband would like it.

 

When he looked down at the table, Emerson Kent also saw his own hands, the golden ring shining at his left one. His smile grew wider while he remembered how it had gotten there...

_Joe had called Emerson and asked him to come to a certain park they’d liked to walk in. As soon as Kent got out of the car next to the park’s gate, it had started raining. Kent put the collar of his coat up and hurried his steps, eyes searching for Chandler. He found him underneath an old oak tree, a wet blanket and a basket at his feet, running his hands through his hair._

_“Joe?”_

_He didn’t look up, still gripping at his wet hair while his eyes were closed. Kent went to stand in front of him and softly grabbed Joe’s hand, holding them still above his head. Finally, Chandler opened his eyes and looked at Kent, a desperate and maybe even ashamed look on his face._

_“I’m sorry.”, Joe whispered._

_“There’s no need to be sorry, Sir.”_

_Kent had done that on purpose – he knew how Chandler still enjoyed it to be called that, even after they had been a couple for nearly two years now. As intended, a small smile appeared on Chandler’s face, though his eyes still looked sad._

_“I had a picnic planned…”_

_Chandler closed his mouth again and Kent kissed his shut lips. The thought of Joe planning a picnic, an actual meal outside in the nature, something that contained so many things you couldn’t plan, just to make his boyfriend happy, caused a warm feeling inside Emerson’s chest. When their lips parted, Kent smiled up at Chandler._

_“That’s lovely. And don’t worry, we’ll have the picnic as soon as the weather is better. Okay?”_

_Chandler nodded, but then suddenly shook his head._

_“This is not just about the picnic. I had something else planned for today.”_

_“Well, whatever it is, you can still do it.”_

_“But that is not how it was supposed to be!” Joe sounded desperate._

_“Hey, calm down. Just tell me what you had planned, okay?”_

_“I wanted to ask you to marry me.”_

 

_Chandler said it like he was making a statement one did every day. Kent felt his knees going weak. He must have heard wrong – there was no way that Joseph Chandler had actually planned a picnic not only to make him happy but to ask him, Emerson Kent, to marry him. That was impossible._

_The rain was still falling and Kent and Chandler looked at each other. Joe’s words were hanging between them like a heavy cloud and none of them wanted to be the first one to break the silence. Kent still believed that none of this could be true and Chandler was worried because none of it had gotten the way he had planned it, and he was scared that if it wouldn’t be perfect, Emerson would never say yes to him._

_Finally, the rain stopped and a single beam of sunlight shone through the clouds. Joe saw it, the way the sun was shining through Kent’s wet curls, every raindrop containing a little rainbow, and he ignored the voices in his head that told him how this was not the way he had planned it, that it wouldn’t work._

_He carefully got down to one of his knees, shivering slightly as his knee touched the wet grass, and looked up at Kent. His brown eyes looked even bigger than usual and a hint of pink appeared on his cheeks._

_“Kent. Emerson. You are my, you are the best thing that happened to me, and I, Emerson, I…”_

_Joe took a deep breath. Talking about his feelings had never been one of the things he was good at, but at the moment, he felt it was the right thing to do. And if there had ever been anyone he wanted to tell how much he meant to him, it was Emerson Kent, right here in the park, hair and clothes still wet from the rain._

_“I love you. And it would be an honor if you would agree to become my husband.”_

_Chandler put his slightly shaking right hand inside his pocket and got a small box out. While he opened it, his eyes were locked with Kent’s._

_“Emerson Kent, will you marry me?”_

_Kent suddenly realized that he was crying. He nodded, said “Yes, oh Joe, yes, of course!” and got down to his knees as well. Emerson cupped Joe’s face with his hands and smiled._

_“Joseph Chandler, I love you, I will marry you and I couldn’t have imagined your proposal to be more perfect in any way.”_

 

The bell rang a few times and Kent was woken from his memories, he laid the forks he held in his hand down at the table and hurried through the living room. He tried to get his messy hair under control at the same time – without much success. 

When he got to the front door, he found Erica, Mansell and their two daughters, Elaine and Emily, waiting outside, their cheeks red from the cold. The girls hugged him and Finley padded Emerson on the shoulder, a smile on his face. Their relationship had improved over the last few years (as well as everything else in Kent’s life, if you’d ask him) and since Finley had even asked him for his approval before he proposed to Erica, Kent had started to accept the fact that they were a couple, no matter how he liked that, that they made each other happy and probably would stay together for a long time. But this hadn’t been the moment when he had started to think of Finley as _family_ , not yet – that had been about a year after Mansell’s proposal.

 

_It had been a summer evening and Kent had fallen asleep in front of the TV in his flat – he wasn’t there very often anymore but Joe had flown to a conference in Scotland for three days and Kent didn’t like to be in his big flat while Chandler wasn’t there with him, so here he was._

_Kent woke up to the sound of someone hammering at the door and as he opened it, he found Finley Mansell in front of the door, screaming the words “You’re an uncle!” into his face. He remembered hugging Mansell, who looked like the proudest man that ever walked on earth, and when they finally let go, he told Kent that “It’s a girl and she’s soo cute and she’s got Erica’s eyes and we’ll name her Elaine!”_

_When they sat on two uncomfortable chairs next to each other in the hospital, at the side of the bed in which Erica and Elaine were sleeping, and when Emerson saw the tears of happiness in Finley’s eyes as he watched them – that was the moment he had started to count him as family..._

 

Emerson was leading the four Mansells to the living room and wanted to go to the kitchen to tell Joe that they were here when he already appeared in the doorframe, wearing an apron above his suit. Elaine and Emily hugged him, Erica placed a brief kiss on his cheek and Finley shook his hand with a smile.

“Boss, I see you’re busy cooking something for us?”

Chandler smiled and answered: “Yes. But please, would you call me Joe while we are here together as family?”

Finley started laughing, Erica shot him an accusing look and Chandler seemed confused.

“ _You_ are saying something like this?” Mansell had to stop talking for a moment to catch breath between his laughter. “You, who is calling his own husband _Kent_ all day long?”

The look on Joe’s face was priceless and Kent decided to get that smirk away from Mansell’s face. He went to stand next to his husband, wrapped an arm around his middle and looked Finley in the eyes.

“You know, Finley, there are _certain_ times when he’s using my first name indeed…”

Mansell’s eyes went wide.

“Stop talking! I certainly don’t wanna talk about… _that._ ”

Now Erica was laughing too and Finley was glad when Emily called for them from the living room – he hurried out of the kitchen, escaping the three other adults. Emerson and Erica exchanged a big smirk and even on Joe’s lips a smile appeared. 

 

The meal Joe had cooked was delicious and after they had finished eating they all went to sit in front of the flat screen, watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” together. Erica sat on one of the two sofas together with her daughters, holding Finley’s hand who was in the armchair next to her. She turned her eyes away from the screen for a moment and looked at the other sofa, where her dear twin brother rested his head at Chandler’s shoulder; the older man’s left hand softly playing with Kent’s curls while both of them watched the movie. 

Erica smiled – after all the time Emerson had been dreaming about his boss she had been unbelievable happy when they finally came together, she had cried more at their wedding than at her own and now, celebrating the first Christmas inside the house her brother and his husband had bought this summer, sitting together with her lovely little family, she couldn’t imagine the situation to be better…

 

It was late when Erica and her family finally left. Finley carefully carried a sleeping Emily to the car while Elaine yawned and winked her uncles a Goodbye. Erica hugged her brother as well as Chandler, she told them how lovely the day had been and then followed the others towards the car. Joe and Emerson hurried to get back indoors as they weren’t dressed appropriate for the creeping cold and the inside of their house promised cozy warmth…

 

It was the 25th of December and it was one of the coldest winters England had ever seen. Though it hadn’t snowed; there was just frost covering the flowers as well as the windows of the small house. Inside of that house, which was heated by a crackling fire in the chimney, a man with dark curls in a red Christmas jumper stood in the living room. He watched through one of the windows as his sister’s car drove away, the backlights getting smaller and smaller in the darkness of the street.

Suddenly, he heard soft music reaching his ears. Surprised, the man turned around to see his husband standing next to the gramophone, a smile on his lips. The dark haired man recognized the song, though he couldn’t have named it, and when his husband held his hand out, he walked towards him. The blonde placed a hand at the smaller man’s side, took his hand in his other one and slowly, they started to dance. It was not really in the rhythm of the song, but the two men danced in the rhythm of their hearts that had been beating together and for each other for years now…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're welcome to come talk to me at Tumblr (consulting-angel-in-bag-end) :)


	3. A Snowy Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chandler & Kent are old and it starts to snow...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wish you all a very Happy Christmas! :)

It was the 26th of December and it was a cold, cloudy winter night. Inside of a small house, a man with grey curls and glasses on his nose sat inside an armchair, wrapped in a fluffy blanket. His eyes had fallen shut a few minutes ago; tired after a day of visiting his sister’s family, eating too much Christmas food, laughing a lot and admiring his sister’s grandson Jeremy. When he had seen him in the arms of his mother Emily, he was reminded of when she was the same age, how that seemed like it wasn’t that long ago – oh, how time was flying.

When he fell asleep in the armchair, he also dreamed of events that didn’t felt like decades ago, though they actually were. 

_He was lying in a hospital bed, face down, dizzy from a lot of pain killers and oh so scared when he thought about what had happened. But still, the dream wasn’t a real nightmare, as in it a blond angel suddenly appeared in the hospital, surrounded by nothing but light, and he wrapped his wings around the hurt man and kissed his scars. In his dream, they flew together to an island where all of the houses were sorted by their colors, what made the angel smile, and suddenly they were on a rainy street and then the angel took him to the wedding of a girl that…_

 

Emerson Kent was woken by the voice of his husband. He blinked his eyes open and put his glasses into place while the last images of the dream escaped his mind. He smiled at he thought about how mixed up everything had been; how different and at the same time how close to the dream reality had been. And of course Chandler had been an angel in his dream. He always was, had always been it – the demons vanished from Kent’s dreams with the years, only making brief appearances now, but his angel stayed; in his dreams as well as when he was awoken.

“Emerson?” 

It was something extraordinary, Chandler using his first name – after all these years, he still usually called him Kent. Not that Kent would mind it, but he also liked the thrill of having Joe call him Emerson.

“What is it, Joe?” 

Kent noticed how sleepy his voice still sounded and Chandler, who stood next to the window, asked him to come to him. So Kent walked to stand at Chandler’s side. The taller man, whose hair had gotten grey too with the years, wrapped an arm around Kent’s shoulders and whispered in his ear.

“It’s snowing.”

Kent saw it too. A few white flakes were dancing down from a dark sky, softly landing on trees and bushes in their garden. The last White Christmas in their region was a few years ago and the forecasts hadn’t said a word about this happening, but still, it was softly snowing outside. Kent smiled. Without any more words, he took Chandler’s hand in his, and the older man allowed him to be guided outside; trusting him completely after years and years of companionship.

 

They put their warm coats on, Chandler turned the lights in the house off (and once on and off again after that) and him and Kent walked through the garden, still hand in hand. Emerson looked around – more and more snowflakes were falling down now, creating fluffy white heads on the trees as well as the roof of their house and the fence surrounding the garden.

A few snowflakes landed in Joe’s hair and Kent thought about how beautiful the now retired DI still was, and how lucky he could call himself to be allowed to share moments like this with him.

“That’s really beautiful.” Kent moved his hand in a vague gesture; including the whole snow covered garden as well as the street where some Christmas lights were to be seen in the distance.

Chandler smiled down at Kent.

“But not as beautiful as my husband.”

The words, the smile on Joe’s face, it was enough to make Kent’s cheeks blush and his heartbeat go faster, as after all these years the love they shared was still something unbelievably beautiful to him. With a smile, Kent placed a hand in his husband’s hair and the other man leaned down; their lips meeting in a soft kiss.

 

It was the 26th of December and it was a cold, snowy winter night. In the garden of a small house, two men were kissing each other while the snowflakes silently danced to the ground. They didn’t know how many Christmases together they’d still have, but they knew how they had made every single one of the past ones a very special Christmas, and of course they knew that they would love each other as long as their hearts would be beating ( _probably even longer_ ), and that was all that was important…

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed that! :)
> 
> Comments would make my day! ♡


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